June 25 is the summer birthday of Paddington Bear.
Paddington, the cute little bear is a fictitious character in a series of books
for children created by the British author Michael Bond.
In the first story the little bear was found
by the Brown family, lost at the Paddington railway station with a note
attached to his collar that read "Please look after this bear. Thank
you." When the Browns asked him for his name he said his original
Peruvian name was too complicated for them to pronounce, so they decided to
call him Paddington. Also, since he was unsure of his age and since he was such
a special bear they decided that he deserved two birthdays, just like the queen
of England – his summer birthday on June 25 and his winter birthday on December
25.
Here are some interesting facts about
Paddington Bear:
1. The home address of
the Brown family does not exist. Don't try to find it.
Many tourists who try to locate 32 Windsor Gardens, the address of Paddington's
adoptive family, find out to their disappointment that there is no house with
such a number in that street. Michael Bond invented that address as a
combination of his and his parents' addresses.
2. Had Michael Bond gone
Christmas shopping earlier, Paddington Bear would not have been born.
On Christmas Eve, 1956,
Michael Bond entered a toy store looking for a present for his wife Brenda. On
one of the shelves he noticed a small toy bear that had been left all by itself.
Feeling sorry for it, Bond bought the bear, took it to his home near Paddington
station, and sat down to write a few amusing tales about it just for fun. After
ten days he realized that he had a book on his hands, not primarily intended to
be specifically for children.
3. Paddington Bear is a
spectacled bear.
Bond wanted Paddington to be a bear that had "travelled all the way from
darkest Africa", but his agent recommended that he change the original
habitat as darkest Africa had no bears. So, Peru was selected, being the natural
home of the spectacled bear. Paddington later reveals that his Peruvian name
was Pastuso and that he was reluctant to disclose it fearing that no one would
be able to pronounce it.
4. Paddington Bear raised
a political scandal.
Mick Young, Australian
Special Minister of State in Bob Hawk's government, was compelled to step resign
in 1984 after failing to declare at customs a large Paddington bear and other
goods carried by his wife in her luggage. The event became known as the
Paddington Bear affair.
5. Google loves Paddington
Bear.
On October 13, 2008, Google
dedicated a doodle to Paddington Bear to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary
since the publication of the first book in the Paddington Bear series.
6. The Wellington boot
manufacturers could hardly meet the massive demand for boots for Paddington
Bear dolls.
The early Paddington Bear dolls were fitted with kiddy boots made by the Dunlop
Corporation, in order to ensure that they stood up firmly. However, as demand stretched
Dunlop's manufacturing capability to the limit, the doll makers Gabrielle
Designs were forced to manufacture the boots by their own means. In the year
1978 the demand for Paddington Bears reached a peak of 87,000 dolls.
7. Up to 2014 twenty four
books were published in the Paddington Bear series.
Over thirty five million copies, translated into forty languages, were sold
worldwide.
8. Paddington appeared in
the 2012 London Olympic Games.
The phenomenon that is often called the "Paddington effect" shows no
sign of waning. Paddington Races Ahead was published in April 2012 as a salute
to the London Olympic Games that took place in the summer of that year. In the
book, Paddington, who repeatedly says that his legs "are a bit short for
the pole vault", is mistakenly identified as a Peruvian hurdler by a film
crew. Naturally, Paddington actually participated in the opening ceremony
parade along the athletic track in the Olympic Stadium.
